The biggest and historic upheaval is going to happen in the history of the Indian stock market and corporate world. The news of the much-awaited initial public offering (IPO) and stock market listing of the country’s largest telecom company Reliance Jio (Reliance Jio Infocomm) has created a stir among global investors from Dalal Street. Market analysts believe that as soon as Reliance Jio makes its formal entry in the stock market, the entire equation of corporate market capitalization of the country will change overnight. With the listing of Jio, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group will become India’s most valuable i.e. number-1 business group by defeating Tata Group, which has been at the top for years. Let us understand from the perspective of an unbiased ground reporter and economic analyst what is the mathematics behind this mega-listing and how big a game-changer it is going to be for the Indian economy.
According to Dalal Street and corporate experts, the estimated market valuation of Reliance Jio is estimated to be between $100 billion to $110 billion (approximately Rs 8.5 lakh crore to Rs 9.2 lakh crore). Currently, the total market cap of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is already among the top companies in the Indian stock market, but the value of Jio and Reliance Retail is also included under RIL. When Jio will be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) as an independent and separate company, its valuation will directly add a new milestone to the total market cap of Reliance Group. After this, the total market value of Reliance Group will jump so fast that it will leave all other corporate houses of the country far behind.
At present, Tata Group remains the country’s largest and most valuable business house in the Indian stock market, which includes more than three dozen listed companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Titan. The total combined market cap of all the listed companies of Tata Group is approximately more than Rs 30 lakh crore. On the other hand, the market cap of the listed companies of Reliance Group also remains very close to this figure. Financial experts have a clear assessment that the additional and direct boost to the market cap of Reliance Group due to the listing of Jio will directly take it far ahead of the total market cap of the Tata Group. This would be an event in Indian corporate history that would completely change the balance of power and value decades later.
After all, what is the real reason behind Reliance Jio getting such a huge valuation? The direct answer to this is Jio’s huge subscriber base, rapid expansion of 5G network and its strong digital ecosystem. Today Jio has more than 47 crore active mobile customers, which is a large part of the total population of the country. Additionally, Jio is no longer just a telecom company but has become a global tech-giant with Jio Cinema, Jio Fiber, Cloud Services and the recently announced Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure. International investors like Google and Meta have already made big investments in Jio Platforms. This is the reason why domestic and foreign portfolio investors have been eagerly waiting for Jio’s IPO for a long time.
The impact of this mega-listing of Jio will not be limited only to Reliance or Tata Group, but its wider impact will be seen on the entire Indian stock market. This mega IPO will bring a new influx of liquidity in the primary market and investment by global institutional investors (FIIs) in India will increase manifold. This will be a golden and historic opportunity for common investors to become direct participants in the country’s fastest growing digital company. Along with this, the existing shareholders of Reliance Industries will also get direct and huge financial benefit of this listing in the form of value unlocking. In conclusion, this listing of Jio will not only make Mukesh Ambani the uncrowned king of the corporate world, but will also give a new direction to the digital future of the Indian economy.